SECT. IH.]

FLOORS.

85

templets, must be made strong, and long enough to throw the weight upon the piers. It is,however, a had practice to lay girders obliquely across the rooms; it is much better to put astrong piece as a wall-plate.

In the bearings of floors the caution of Vitruvius must be attended to; that is, when theends of the joists are supported by external walls of considerable height, the middle part ofthe joist should never rest upon a partition wall that does not go higher than the floor ;*for the unequal settlement of the walls will cause the floor to be unlevel, and most likelyfracture the cornices.

157-—Wall-plates and templets should be made stronger as the span becomes longer;the following proportions may serve for general purposes :

inches, inches. »

For a 20-feet bearing, wall-plates 4$ by 3

30.6 by 4

40. 7i by 5

J 58 ._Floors should always be kept about three-fourths of an inch higher in the middle

than at the sides of a room when first framed; and also the ceiling joists should be fixed'about three-fourths of an inch in 20 feet higher in the middle than at the sides of the room;as all floors, however well constructed, will settle in some degree.

In laying the flooring, the boards should always be made to rise a little under the door-ways, in order that the doors may shut close without dragging; and at the same time itassists in making them clear the carpet.

The following remarks, from Evelyn’s Silva, are also worthy of notice : “ To prevent allpossible accidents, when you lay floors, let the joints be shot, fitted, and tacked down onlythe first year, nailing them for good and all the next; and by this means they will lie staunch,close, and without shrinking in the least, as if they were all of one piece; and upon thisoccasion I am to add an observation that may prove of no small use to builders, that if onetake up deal boards that may have lain in the floor an hundred years, and shoot them again,they will certainly shrink (toties quoties) without the former method.”f

FLOORS CONSTRUCTED WITH SHORT TIMBERS.

159 .—There are many curious methods of constructing floors with short timbers, whichcannot be passed over without notice, and yet are scarcely worthy of it; because theyare seldom applied, as long timber is always to be had. To those, however, who are

* Vitruvius , lib. vii. cap. 1.

t Evelyn’s Silva, Dr. Hunter’s edit, Vol. II, p. 217.